Apr 12, 2022 1:39 PM
Spirited Big Ears Festival Embraces Experimental Outlook
During the opening concert of this year’s Big Ears Festival, a train roared by just as the Kronos Quartet leaned into…
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire performs with the trio Trefoil at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 12, 2022 1:39 PM
During the opening concert of this year’s Big Ears Festival, a train roared by just as the Kronos Quartet leaned into…
The spread from DownBeat’s October 2021 issue, clockwise: Yazz Ahmed, Steam Down, Nubya Garcia, Emma-Jean Thackray, Moses Boyd and Alexis Blondel.
Dec 8, 2021 11:26 AM
Midway through the 2010s, the excitement became palpable. A new sound was developing and it wasn’t just the jazz…
Gerald Clayton was named Rising Star Artist of the Year and his trio won Rising Star Jazz Group.
Aug 24, 2021 2:34 PM
Editor’s Note: This article was written to commemorate some of the Rising Star winners in DownBeat’s 69th Annual…
Veronica Swift has both a historical connection to the music and a desire to expand its artistic purview.
Dec 3, 2020 8:58 AM
Welcome to our enthusiastic, optimistic look at the future.
Below, DownBeat presents short profiles of two dozen…
Nubya Garcia is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
Oct 20, 2020 1:11 PM
Affectionately nicknamed “Empress” or “Queen” by British journalists and fans, saxophonist Nubya Garcia took…
Saxophonist Nubya Garcia—who recently issued Source (Concord Jazz), her debut as a bandleader—often is referred to affectionately as the “queen” or “empress” by British broadcasters, journalists and fans.
Aug 24, 2020 11:06 AM
Since emerging with the septet Nérija in 2016, saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia has worked to inject fresh energy…
Saxophonist Nubya Garcia performs at the 2018 Melbourne Jazz Festival, one of many large-scale events pivoting online because of the pandemic.
Jun 11, 2020 9:06 AM
As Jazzfest Passau in Germany plans to continue outdoor events and Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto adapts to its…
Norah Jones is slated to appear Aug. 7 at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.
Feb 26, 2020 11:29 AM
The Newport Jazz Festival has announced its slate of performers for this year’s edition, to be held Aug. 7–9 at…
With the release of Nérija’s full-length debut, Blume (Domino), saxophonist Nubya Garcia’s career pushes on to a new stage.
Oct 25, 2019 9:25 AM
Nubya Garcia exhibits spectacular leader instincts, but she thrives in collaborative settings.
Making her New York…
Trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey performs in both Kokoroko and Nérija, groups that recently issued debut EPs indebted to jazz, Afrobeat and more.
May 16, 2019 9:16 AM
Kokoroko, a London-based Afrobeat group, released its self-titled debut EP earlier this year after being featured on…
Since the 1980s, London-based DJ and record label founder Gilles Peterson has been a force in music. The first installment of his We Our Here festival is set to run Aug. 15–18 in Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, U.K.
Jun 11, 2019 4:31 PM
Being a curator has become a defining ethos for the 21st century. With digital platforms bombarding us with choice, a…
Theon Cross’ instrument enables the bandleader to consider his attack from a unique vantage point, the tuba’s relative obsolescence in contemporary music alleviating him from the burden of comparison.
Mar 25, 2019 9:51 AM
Even before releasing a full-length recording under his own name, Theon Cross had become a central figure of the…
On June 29, the Impulse! label issued previously unreleased studio recordings by John Coltrane (left), Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Tyner under the title Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album.
Jan 4, 2019 12:27 PM
During 2018, DownBeat published hundreds of articles and album reviews. What’s below, though, are some features and…
The Roundhouse hosts events, like the Love Supreme Jazz Festival and the London Jazz Festival, that feature performers from outside of the UK.
Sep 11, 2018 10:40 AM
For almost every British musician, hearing the word “Brexit” induces a quickened heart rate.
The UK is scheduled…
Each of Shabaka Hutchings’ ensembles showcases a different musical sensibility of the bandleader.
Jul 3, 2018 9:30 AM
As the buzz around him continues to build, more and more fans in the United States are learning the name Shabaka…
We Our Here album cover
May 31, 2018 11:57 AM
Part of what’s remarkable about the contemporary London jazz scene is how the genre’s breadth is on display,…
Emma-Jean Thackray began her life as a musician in a Yorkshire brass band.
Aug 16, 2018 4:08 PM
Emma-Jean Thackray built her new record, Ley Lines, in the upstairs studio of her cozy and colorful South London flat,…
Starting Today, keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones’ debut on Brownswood Recordings, is out May 4.
Aug 16, 2018 4:12 PM
Keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones is sitting on a sofa in the South London house he shares with four other musicians.…
Through her music, saxophonist Nubya Garcia explores her West Indian heritage.
Apr 27, 2018 10:26 AM
When Nubya Garcia plays the tenor saxophone, the first things you notice are her sound and phrasing. She wields a…
Drummer Moses Boyd (left), saxophonist Nubya Garcia and tuba player Theon Cross contributed to the forthcoming album We Out Here, on Brownswood Recordings.
Aug 16, 2018 4:07 PM
Soon after Jazz Re:Freshed’s fifth annual Jazz Re:Fest concluded in August at London’s Royal Festival Hall…
